Not too much to ask

Published 3:47 pm, Wednesday, December 12, 2012

The issue: State Rep.-elect Christina Ayala, of Bridgeport, was arrested twice in a span of less than four months. She was charged in the first instance with evading responsibility, running a red light and driving an unregistered car after she hit a car a couple of blocks from her father's West Side bar. She was later arrested and charged with breach of peace for allegedly smacking her boyfriend, who was also arrested.

What we wrote: "(Ayala) needs to step aside and a special election should be arranged as soon as legally possible to find her replacement. Should she not resign, leaders of the Democratic Party -- both in Bridgeport and in Hartford -- need to convince her to do so."

Editorial, Dec. 5, 2012

Where it stands: In the wake of the second arrest, questions about Ayala's place of residence arose. Though she claims an address in the 128th Assembly District, the district she was elected to represent, the address at which the domestic incident occurred is not in the district. Well, Democratic leadership has since come down hard. The bar is set pretty low: State House leader Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden, warned Ayala that she must actually live in the neighborhood that elected her. And, he warned, she has to make that happen before her Jan. 9 swearing-in.